The vast majority of the residences and commercial buildings in this country have some means for receiving delivered mail. In many cases, this comprises a narrow slot communicating from the outside to the inside of the building. Very often, this slot is in a garage door or other door of the upwardly opening type, i.e. a door which is opened by being rolled or levered upward from a vertical position at the front wall of the garage until it hangs suspended in a horizontal position from the interior ceiling of the garage or other room.
Mail delivered through such garage door slots generally falls to the floor, where it is subject to becoming soiled. Furthermore, one must stoop over uncomfortably to retrieve it.
Prior developments in this field may be generally illustrated by reference to the following patents: Patent No. Patentee Issue Date 4,826,075 D. S. Burns May 02, 1989 3,991,934 R. D. Hamblin Nov. 16, 1976 3,389,854 L. Coopersmith Jun. 25, 1968 620,323, U.K. H. G. Ramsell May 18, 1949 1,207,684, France Skarsten Manufacturing Sep. 07, 1959 746,906 J. R. Wimer Dec. 15, 1903 511,722 J. J. Bisel Dec. 26, 1893 401,700 W. Graham Apr. 16, 1889
U.S. Pat. No. 4,826,075 shows a basket that hangs from a garage door mail slot and rotates when the door is raised so as to retain its contents.
U.S. Pat. No. 401,700 shows a rigid box affixed to a door. Since that door is of the side opening type, means for keeping the mail in the box is not needed - the mail drops into an open top.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,991,934, 3,389,854, U.K. 620,323 and French 1,207,684 teach letter plates that are incorporated into doors to form a letter drop.
The rest of the patents are representative of what is in the art.
The boxes of U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,826,075 and 401,700 are located below the slot and are not sealed to keep out dust and the like. If doors were simply added to the tops thereof, the mail could not enter. The box of the present invention has a feature not found in those references, namely a box which is mounted on top of the slot so that the mail feeds directly into the box. The door of the preferred box slides, whereas the provision of a hinged door like one shown, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,389,854, would simply open when the garage door is lifted.